Uncle Roger's Notebooks of Daily Life |
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Monday, February 28, 2005 The English language reads horizontally. When discrete items are grouped together, therefore, they are best done so vertically. Indices, checklists, and telephone directories are all organized vertically. File system structures -- hierarchical listings of directories and files -- are also traditionally presented as a vertical list. Why then do FTP clients, CD burning software, and other programs insist on using windows stacked above each other, thus limiting the number of discrete items visible in each window? Consider that there are two axises of data -- the list of files and directories on the vertical axis and the details of each along the horizontal. Given that the list of files is the primary data and the file details are supplemental, the windows should be positioned to show as much of the vertical axis as possible; the user can scroll horizontally to see more information if necessary. And yet, so many applications are set up with their windows positioned one above the other, showing the full width of the data but limiting the number of items visible. The correct layout is to show as much of the primary (vertical) axis as possible and let the user scroll to see additional, supplemental information as -- and if -- necessary. This is done by making the windows taller than they are wide and positioning them side by side. Unfortunately, what seems obvious to me isn't so obvious to others. It seems that all the currently available freeware FTP clients and all of the CD and DVD writing software I've gotten recently make this mistake. Once upon a time, user interface design was an important part of the overall design process, but it seems these days it is limited to picking the latest trendy color scheme. Hopefully, in the near future, the pendulum will swing and designers, analysts, and programmers will include usability as a critical design consideration. |
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